The forested hills and craggy mountains of Romania offer both archaeological and supernatural tourists a wide range of stunning gothic churches and medieval monasteries. One Romanian site that serves as a national landmark is hidden in the wooded hills above Sinca Veche village, close to Persani, and its origins are so mysterious that it shadows even Dracula’s castle. This center of supernatural activity is most often called the “Temple of Sinca Veche.”
Fagaras Land, located in southern Transylvania, is a timeworn landscape haunted by the ghosts of medieval monks, priests and regional kings who once walked the wolf-infested forest paths that knitted together the Carpathians tapestry of Orthodox monasteries that once controlled rural Transylvania. Below the sun-stroked surface world, there is a place hidden in these mountains like nowhere else on planet Earth, known locally as the Temple of Wishes, Temple of Fate, the Rock Monastery and the Aliens’ Temple
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Interior of the Temple of Sinca Veche in Romania. (Misiulica / CC BY-SA 3.0 )
A Distinctly Non-Christian Temple of Dreams
The ancient origins of this subterranean temple, or religious warren, made up of five rooms, still today baffles the Romanian archaeological community. While some give it Dacian (Roman period) origins, others believe this chamber of secrets is around 7,000 years old.
Two rooms form primitive sanctuaries (chapels) and their walls have been carved with different esoteric symbols including a six-pointed Star of David with the Chinese Yin-Yang located in its hexagonal center.
Bizarre texts carved in an unknown style appear all over the walls and in one of the sanctuaries a portrait strikes many modern visitors as resembling Jesus. However, this place is like no other Christian church ever built. According to many visitors, this space is home to a wholly ungodly energy, which we will return to later in this article.
The sacred space is lit by a series of low windows and high skylights. An article on Atlas Obscura highlights that many locals believe the cave temple is connected with a nearby castle via a lost tunnel.
Records from 1700 say the cave temple was used as resting place by Transylvanian monks who were “harassed to convert to Catholicism.” Notwithstanding, while a giant Star of David is present, the space is void of any other Christian crosses which suggests the symbol might have been carved by someone who perceived the shape in its “Seal of Solomon” interpretation. The Seal of Solomon was a symbol that featured heavily in medieval alchemical arts , as well as in the spells and incantations of grimoires, and as such, the shape has been adopted by modern ceremonial magicians, New Agers and spiritualists .
Interior of the so-called Temple of Wishes, the Temple of Sinca Veche continues to baffle the Romanian archaeological community. (Left: davidionut / Adobe Stock. Right: Misiulica / CC BY-SA 3.0 )
Seeking the Mysterious Origins of the Romanian Wish Maker
An article on Cursed Traveler says the cave temple was mentioned for the first time in the early 13th century. Others, however, contest that the monastery was actually created as a temple dedicated to Zalmoxis, the God of Dacian peoples. This is supported by the discovery of Roman coins and ceramics in six Dacic homes and thirteen pits, with one of the coins from the time of Tiberius Caesar Augustus , the second Roman emperor who reigned from 14 to 37 AD.
Archaeologists suspect a roman fortification was located close to the temple that is yet to be found. Locals also believe the hills hide the lost tomb, and treasures, of a Roman general, and while the temple may have been used in Roman times, many archaeologists believe it was created 5,000 years earlier.
Historical records on this site are thin on the ground, but Crestinortodox’s list of historical monuments record the site as a “cave monastery (ruins) in Sinca Veche village, șinca commune, address: Pleșu Hill, dating XVIII century.” However, the Romanian priest and historian, Stefan Metes (1887–1977) a member of the Romanian Academy, researched the history of religious and spiritual traditions in Transylvania, and he noted that in 1204 AD Pope Innocent III wrote about Romania’s “Orthodox monasteries, simple and miserable, but still well known in those days.” And from the 18th century an entry on Muntii-Fagaras says the cave church at Sinca Veche was called the “Temple of the Chosen,” “Stone Dug Monastery,” a place of silence “and fulfillment of good desires.”
A Sacred Site Steeped in Good Vibes (Man)
While the original builders of this ancient temple might never be determined, the few records of the site that do exist say it was traditionally used as a spiritual tool for helping in the “fulfillment of good desires.” This presents us with a bridge that we must cross: a threshold bringing us from the empirical world into history’s X-files, where science blends with the subjective.
Crossing over, there is no escaping the fact that over the years hundreds of strange occurrences have been reported at this rustic religious site. While many describe the usual slate of supernatural occurrences, such as crying voices, peculiar orbs on photographs and healed diseases (wind, humidity and exercise), the most repeated supposedly supernatural occurrence is that the site makes dreams come true. This claim has led the Temple of Sinca Veche to become known as the “Temple of Wishes,” a modern twist on the historical record describing it as helpful in the “fulfillment of good desires.”
If you were to Google search “Sinca Veche Temple Cave” you will see hundreds of pages and tourist blogs talking of “special” or “positive” energies, which many believe stir up the universe in such a way that it can make your every wish come true. This tradition is also evident in the thousands of written wishes left at the site every year.
The great majority of the people who visit this site in Romania, and go on to discuss it on the internet, claim to have experienced these good vibes. According to the Cursed Traveler article, “nothing grows on the surrounding hill because there are some kind of radiations.” Today, the cave is so strongly associated with esoteric telluric currents that New Agers often bring their magical items (wands, hats and amulets) to “charge them up” with this perceived energy.
